Spring Break
Let's talk about sex, maybe?
Daily Vidette Editorial Board
Issue date: 11/7/08 Section: Editorials
The year was 1938 when a respected professor of zoology at Indiana University decided to switch the course of his research, and ultimately history, by pursuing the controversial study of human sexuality.
It was a decade later when Alfred Kinsey published the findings of his numerous interviews in the landmark study, "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male." The controversy that followed Kinsey throughout his career over the racy nature of his work made it clear how necessary his work was.
Sex was not only a taboo topic, but a vulgar one which seemed to contradict the established moral scruples of society and the institution of marriage. Homesexuality, premarital sex, extramarital sex and pornography were not thoughts that were kosher to discuss out loud, much less in a lecture hall.
So I guess we should acknowledge the elephant on the page. Sex. Penis. Vagina. If you feel the need to giggle at these words then get it out of your system now because the Kinsey Institute has continued its founder's studies and is dispensing them in Q & A format for students of our generation who missed out on the initial excitement.
Experts, or in this case, "sexperts," will be lending their two cents to provide answers to the questions that plague people's minds but rarely escape their lips. The questions are blunt, straightforward and might still be capable of causing a stir.
Are ISU students ready for this brand of informative sexual advice? Since we were raised in a country whose media portrayals of sexuality contradicted what most of us were taught in school, who knows where the gaps in our knowledge start and begin.
It seems that from an early age, if our parents didn't sit us down for the birds and bees talk, someone else did. Our information about sex was pieced together through random talkative classmates, siblings or television. Schools taught us to practice abstinence, whereas "Dawson's Creek" taught us that hooking up with our childhood friends was just fine and almost expected.
It was a decade later when Alfred Kinsey published the findings of his numerous interviews in the landmark study, "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male." The controversy that followed Kinsey throughout his career over the racy nature of his work made it clear how necessary his work was.
Sex was not only a taboo topic, but a vulgar one which seemed to contradict the established moral scruples of society and the institution of marriage. Homesexuality, premarital sex, extramarital sex and pornography were not thoughts that were kosher to discuss out loud, much less in a lecture hall.
So I guess we should acknowledge the elephant on the page. Sex. Penis. Vagina. If you feel the need to giggle at these words then get it out of your system now because the Kinsey Institute has continued its founder's studies and is dispensing them in Q & A format for students of our generation who missed out on the initial excitement.
Experts, or in this case, "sexperts," will be lending their two cents to provide answers to the questions that plague people's minds but rarely escape their lips. The questions are blunt, straightforward and might still be capable of causing a stir.
Are ISU students ready for this brand of informative sexual advice? Since we were raised in a country whose media portrayals of sexuality contradicted what most of us were taught in school, who knows where the gaps in our knowledge start and begin.
It seems that from an early age, if our parents didn't sit us down for the birds and bees talk, someone else did. Our information about sex was pieced together through random talkative classmates, siblings or television. Schools taught us to practice abstinence, whereas "Dawson's Creek" taught us that hooking up with our childhood friends was just fine and almost expected.
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